A fallen friend
by Winter'sRaven
Summary: being a big fan of Graduation day I wanted to write something that allowed Nightwing and Wonder Woman to share their grief. Its rated T for possible later chapters which will touch on missing scenes in the current story arcs leading to infinity crisis.
1. to mourn a loved one

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any of these characters….If I did I would have the money to prove it…..I do write about them due to the fact that I have always gained joy reading about them and wish to pay them homage…..

AS I have read comics for more years than I care to count to reveal how old I really am I always tend to enjoy plots that intertwine different books. I buy several titles a month and though have not always liked some of the story lines I have enjoyed the character development of said characters. It was this that I noticed that two characters' lives began to spiral down with the death of Donna Troy. Yes you guessed it…..Nightwing and Diana the ultimate Amazon. It figures they had the biggest impacts from her….and I do truly appreciate DC from bringing back Donna Troy…..course before that this is a story I had in mind for a while…..please sit back and read it…creative comments are always appreciated……

So as the man says "let's get on with the show."

………………………..

Standing at the shrine of a fallen friend Dick Grayson just stares at the grave marker….It has felt as though it was an eternity since last he saw her smile. They had been friends for so long, best friends in fact He missed her more than he ever thought he would have, more than he did any other. He remembers the day of her funeral, when he and Roy had argued…

" I loved her too." Roy had said. Did he really know how Dick had felt? She was his best friend and though he often denied the fact, he loved her much more than a "sister".

The problem was he was afraid to ever act on it, he looked back on his love life and remembered she was always there to hear him talk about it all. He would listen to her as she would complain about Terry, Roy, and Kyle. He smiled slightly though his eyes were covered in sorrow.

"You remember when those gods of yours took control of the Joker, Scarecrow and Ivy? When I came in and…" His eyes looked up to the sky of orange, purple and red as the autumn sun crested behind the trees " defeated that gorgon? You put on those earrings and made the crack about "your accessorizing?" You replied about me spending an hour doing the same when I was Robin. Then you turned and asked if I was sure about going with you? The you grabbed my hand and said "I love you" and I replied I love you too. I don't know about the way you meant it Donna but I meant it the way it sounded. I never told you because I didn't want to hurt you or me getting hurt and loosing our friendship that meant so dear to me. I stand here now realizing that I now know why it never worked with anyone else from Kory to Barb to Helena." A tear cascades down his cheek. " I loved you and though I did love them all I couldn't be fully with them. Even though Barb came close." He mused.

" She knows Richard." A voice came from behind him. He normally would have heard someone this close but since Donna's death his life slowly spiraled down. Bab's and his break-up, his removal as leader of the Outsiders, the death of his enemy, his "relationship" with tarantula, and His eventual departure from Bludhaven back to Gotham. The woman's voice so much like Donna's. He slightly turns his head and speaks low….He wasn't in the mood for company and didn't want to hear it from anyone.

"Evening Wonder Woman."

"Call me Diana." The tall, beautiful warrior woman walked closer to him.

"Why are you here Diana?" Dick said using "the voice"

Diana smirked slightly at the sound of his voice. So like Batman's at that moment. It was strange the way he was always so strong, so confident, a warrior born.

"Actually he would say "Why are you here Princess?" as she mimicked Batman's voice.

Dick turned his head back to the grave and grimaced. " Bruce sent you here didn't he?"

" He asked if I would talk to you yes. But I come here a lot Richard, he didn't send me here or anywhere." Her tone now slightly serious and distant.

"I know. I've seen you here." He answered as he began to turn and walk away.

"Do you know everything like….Bruce?" Diana asks as she sees Dick beginning to leave.

"He doesn't know everything Diana." Dick answers grimly. "It was my fault Diana, you know. She was trying to save my life when she was killed. If anyone it should have been me." She could hear tears just below the surface.

"It wasn't yours Richard. She was trying to save someone she loved." Diana looked at the grave marker…"It would have torn out her heart if you had died. Like it is yours."

Tears coming to the surface.

"Not as much as it hurts me." Dick replied under his breath. At that moment, Diana felt a rage burst forth as she grabbed Dick by his jacket, hoisting him off the ground. Anger in her eyes, fury in her words and tears…..

"HOW DARE YOU! SHE LOVED YOU MORE THAN ANY MAN IN HER LIFE! HOW DARE…" She lowered him down "you." Her tears flowing down her face. Her anger gone, replaced with enough sorrow to break a hundred hearts. "Maybe if you where there instead of Wally she would have had a better ability of herself."

Looking down at the ground tears fell down his face as he realized what Diana was saying. Donna had loved him as he loved her and he knew her better than anyone. It made the loss a little heavier now. He reached out to Diana and hugged her. They both missed Donna, more than they truly realized. After a moment, they both stopped and pulled away from each other.

"Do you want to get some drinks and talk about her." Replied Dick.

"Are you make a pass at me Richard? What would your father say?" Diana said as she laughed a little making a joke.

"No and I think Bruce would kill me." Dick said dryly.

……………………………………..

A few hours later the two were sipping wine in a restaurant laughing at stories of Donna.

Dick had told her about the time that they were in the desert and left Garth in the sun for a while and the look that followed. Diana told him of a time after Donna and Kyle broke up and she threw him out.

"You know the only reason she even began dating him was because he resembled you." Diana said laughing a little louder.

"I kissed Helena because she had the same fire Donna did." Confessed Dick.

Diana stopped laughing and placed her hand on his knee, looked into his eyes and said

"She really did love you Dick."

"I know, as much as he loves you." Dick said with somber eyes.

"What? Who?" Diana was taken back for a moment. "Bruce? No were just friends, we spoke about it."

"Diana I know the man better than anyone and he does love you. He just won't admit it. He's afraid like I was with Donna. I also think like Donna loved me you love him."

"How could you know that Dick?" Diana replies feeling her heart drop in her throat.

"Donna was your avatar. She felt things from you as you felt those things from her."

With this Dick got up and as he began to walk away he said….

"Thank you Diana. Also thank Bruce for me too. I didn't bring him back to waste it."

He left her there in silence.

The end…………………….


	2. A Forsaken friend

DiScLaImEr: I do not own any DC characters blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda…..

This is a continuation of the earlier story "when two people talk about a fallen friend"but takes place after the identity crisis. It does have a flag on this one…so if you don't know what's going on in DC right now please go look.

The darkness slinks from the shadows, the echoes of the cave's inhabitants adds to the gloomy setting that is the bat-cave. In the monitor womb of this shadowy place sitting in a large chair is a man whose very tenure has been to protect the innocent of his city. For years, he has done so and with others, he has protected the world. That was until he found out that he was betrayed. He moves his head slightly as he hears the transporter activate, he listens and a small grin appears on his face but is quickly suppressed.

She has only just heard what has happened, she confronted her best friend as she put the clues together…..

Earlier---

"Kal?" She replies as she enters the arboretum of the watchtower. She knows he is here. He always comes here when something is bothering him. Its this or his fortress but the sensors said he was here.

"Yes Diana." A voice replies. His name is Clark Kent, Kal-El-last son of Krypton, we know him as **_Superman_**. Over the last few days, he has witnessed several things that have been dredged up from the past. A past he had hoped never became known. His hands resting on a guardrail overlooking the forest of endangered species of plants from Earth, trying to find peace of mind.

"I want to ask you something Kal. I need to know this." She replies staying near by but not so close to her friend.

He looks down into the trees from his place and deep in his mind he knows what she will ask. He knows her to well, as she knows him, or does she? If he was as good as he claimed to be he would have never done what he had. He also knows of her feelings for the man she is about to ask about. He was also a friend but now Clark knows he has lost his friendship forever.

He exhales slowly as his eyes focus on a tree. He breaths in deeply once more than he answers her.

"Yes Diana."

"Did you really know what Hal and the others did to Br.., Batman and J'onn?"

Her voice has a slight apprehensive tone in it. He hears it in her voice as she corrected herself as she said his name. He remembers watching her steal glances at him every so often. Clark remembers when he found out about the "tension" between Bruce and Diana. It was in a conversation he had with J'onn before the emergence of _Fenris_. She seemed to hold Bruce to a higher ideal than before. He remembered how her voice sounded when they had followed Batman's idea to allow the Void Hound to attack the Crime Syndicate's Earth. He heard the pain in her voice, as she seemed to berate Batman's choice. It was not berating, it was something else like a painful sorrow.

"What do you want to hear Diana?" He grimaced. He already knew the answer.

"The Truth Kal." Diana answered her voice slightly colder than before.

He looked down and felt a tear in his eye but fought not to allow it to come forth.

With a choked voice he only said one word.

"Yes."

Diana felt anger rage within her. She wanted to hit him, beat him until he could no longer stand. How could this be her best friend? He was there when she always need someone to speak to. They had always come to each other for advice not keeping hardly anything between them. In a venomous fit of words, he had never heard her say he felt the pain of betrayal.

"HOW COULD YOU? I NEVER KNEW YOU AT ALL YOU BASTARD OF A MAN!"

"You don't understand." He feebly replied.

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND! I DON'T UNDERSTAND! WHY SHOULD I TRY! YOU KNEW WHAT THEY DID TO YOUR FRIENDS KAL AND YOU JUST WATCHED! BRUCE WOULD NEVER HAVE DONE THAT NO MATTER WHAT!"

He always hated to be compared to him. All of his career he was the light to his dark. He was the Boy Scout Batman the dark knight. The anger bubbled over as he turns around, tears flowing, voice thundering…

"BUT ITS ALRIGHT IF HE CRIPPLED US DIANA! IS IT? HE BETRAYED US ONCE!" His voice calming to some extent. "He hurt you and me and everyone else."

Diana brought her voice low, almost a growl. He could feel her anger seething out of her.

"I never said that K…Superman. He has made mistakes but he is honorable enough never to allowed himself the opportunity to do what you did." She points a finger at him.

He felt his heart sink as she called him by his moniker not the name she calls him.

"Justice needed to be served. You are one of the few that will kill Diana. It's the same thing." Superman replies

"No it isn't Superman. I never pretended to be…to be" She pauses for a moment as she chokes back tears. "fake! What you see with me is what you get!."

"Diana please." Superman states, all of the fight left him as he hears that word.

"No Superman." Diana responds as she turns from him. "Consider our friendship void as your conscious."

There he was sitting at his computer. Diana wanted to run to him, hold him to allow him to shed tears, but she couldn't, he won't.

"Diana that's far enough." Batman replied coldly almost aloft.

"Bruce please."

"I can't Diana."

"Why?"

"How can I trust anyone?"

She was hurt. She was livid at his statement.

"You're a hypocrite Bruce." Diana replied. "How can you trust anyone? I know you feel betrayed, believe me when I say I know. You betrayed us Bruce when you had created those protocols. You didn't trust any of us enough to help you when your back was broken, or during that whole Hush fiasco. You didn't trust" She paused for a moment trying to maintain her rhythm, not allowing the catch in her throat to cause her to stumble. "me." The truth hit her more so as she admitted this fact. "You betrayed me. You didn't trust me Bruce."

"Di."

She stopped him from speaking, holding up her hand. A simple word coming off her lips. "Don't."

"I trusted you enough to come to you when I needed help with Medusa. I trusted you enough afterwards to give me that test for the others benefit. I didn't have anything to do with what happened to you, believe me. Yet here you are saying how you can't trust anyone Bruce. I never lied to you."

"You did once Diana." States Batman as he turns from her.

"What?" She was shocked. When had she lied. Then realization set in. The only time she lied to him was after she had emerged from the transconsciousness articulator.

"You did too." She replied remembering the scene in her head as if she was just there.

"Why do you think we did?" Bruce asks as he begins to walk away until he feels her hand on his shoulder. His muscles tense and relax; he inhales and holds his breath.

"We are afraid." She answers. Her voice soft and sincere. "I can't promise what the future will hold Bruce and it scares me when I think of you and me together. I could loose so much with you. Your passionate, border lined obsessed, your brilliant, a warrior born, your ruthless, rude, stubborn, arrogant, I feel with you I have to fight so much harder so as to be an equal with you. You bring out the worse in me when we disagree and you bring out the best in me as well. You never allow anyone in Bruce and that is a reason why you lied to me that day by the articulator. You know if you allowed whatever it is we have between us to flourish you wouldn't be able to stop until I was in your heart so completely that it would hurt to argue. I felt your hand on mine as I first emerged from the tank. I felt your warm touch. You came to me without your mask or cape. You came to me as you. I wanted to kiss you then Bruce, by the goddesses I did, but I held back and above what my heart said to do my mind said other things. You took slight steps and swallowed your pride on more than one occasion. I know that now. I remember when I was wounded from 10th circle. You called my sisters to come help me, you stopped me from helping any farther. I even found out that you contacted Artemis to ask how I was doing afterwards. She respects you greatly you know." She stops for a few brief seconds as she turns him around. This man who hides in the shadows, this protector of Gotham. This man who although is a mortal man, can cause any of the metas to fear. He has all of their respect, and her heart. "I also know why you really wanted me to talk to Nightwing Bruce. You saw two people whom you love hurting still, from a common reason…Donna."

Bruce looks into her eyes, her blue eyes and he feels, not for the first time, lost and warmth.

"I feel lost Diana."

"I know. So do I."

"I don't know if I can trust anything I feel Diana."

"trust in me."

Well that's the end for now tell me how you like it.


	3. battle of hearts

DiScLaImEr: I do not own any DC characters blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda…..

This is a continuation of the earlier but takes place after the identity crisis. It does have a flag on this one…so if you don't know what's going on in DC right now please go look.

The woman named Selina Kyle enjoys her fight on the rooftop even though it is with a minor criminal like Firefly. She enjoys these battles of life and death, the adrenaline bumping through her veins like a drug giving her a euphoric high like no other. It use to be the thrill of the theft until he came along. Somehow over the years he had made her want to become more than what she was, a thief with a motif. She leaps into the air, her foot connecting with the Firefly's chin. She lands on his chest bantering the entire time. Something she has come to do a lot since becoming part of the so-called bat-clan.

She hears a voice from behind her as her fist is raised ready to finish her opponent…

"Is that really necessary?"

She knows who it is without turning around. His voice sends shivers up her spine although she would never say anything about it. Sometimes she has dreams of him, but they always end the same. He decides his city is more important than she and she rips his heart out.

"No." She coyly replies as she brings her fist down to Firefly's face. He won't be moving anytime soon. "But its fun. Know what else is fun?" She asks

"Catching criminals?" Batman asks.

"That's what I was doing. You should think of ways to thank me. I can always make some very selective suggestions."

"Hand over the diamonds you stole from Firefly and maybe I'll thank you."

"Does that mean we're enga…"Selina retorts as she comes closer to Batman but runs into a wall that isn't there. "Ow."

"Sorry." She hears as she sees J'Onn J'Onnz become visible. He is right on top of Batman. She thinks "Sheesh I heard about protection but how close is Bruce with these guys?"

That's when they are interrupted by some more guests. It happens quickly as the bodies fall, first the tornado in pieces, then Hawkman, Canary, Flash, Hal, Arrow, and Digby.

Above them stand several criminals on an energy platform created by Dr. Alchemy and all she can hear is…

"I remember everything Bruce." Replies Alchemy.

The battle is fierce as J'Onn, Selina and Batman battle Alchemy, Clock king, Star Sapphire, Faust, Abra Kadabra, and Plant man. Faust manages to send a bolt of energy toward Selina while she is down but as she is expecting it to hit her a figure dressed in red, white, blue and gold blocks the bolt with her bracelets.

"Hello Faust." The new on comer replies with a smirk.

"Great now she's involved." Thinks Selina. "And she saved my life. I hate how life works."

With the speed of Hermes Wonder Woman flies toward her adversary, her fist connecting with the mages chin. He flies twenty feet connecting into a wall, slumping down as he collapses to the ground. She turns as she hears a small explosion from behind her. She sees Star Sapphire fall and Batman grins slightly toward her. Selina sees this and feels her heart slightly sink. J'Onn takes out Kadabra almost as fast. Selina lets her whip fly as it wraps around Plant Man's neck. She leaps over him keeping the whip tight, she lands on Faust's unconscious body, she hears ribs pops and crack. She then hears it…

"DIANA BEHIND YOU!" Then she hears it before she sees it…. Batman, Bruce he leaps in front of Wonder Woman as Star Sapphire fires an energy beam. The impact is almost in slow motion as Selina sees Bruce fall, his body plummeting to the rooftop, limp. She hears a yell come from the Amazon as she continues to watch a lasso wrap around Sapphire and she in turn is flung into a wall, then into the Clock King. Selina looks almost in awe as the one called Wonder Woman uses Sapphire as a weapon. The woman in purple is already unconscious Selina can see it, feels it, knows it. With a final collision into Alchemy, who had been just now recovering from gas from Batman causing them both to fall into sweet oblivion.

"BRUCE!" Both Selina and Diana yell as they get to Batman's side. They both look at him, each other and their eyes meet. They both feel the same for this man, this Dark Knight.

Without thought Diana looks to J'Onn the Martian Manhunter and declares

"We have to get Br..Batman to the med lab in the Watch Tower."

"I'm going with you sister." Selina responds, her eyes glowering toward Diana. She feels as though this woman is a treat to her position for Bruce's feelings.


End file.
